


The Shadow Is Cast

by Lanyare



Series: What's Done Cannot Be Undone [4]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-03-31 04:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13966956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lanyare/pseuds/Lanyare
Summary: The trio (plus two hitchhikers) return to the Bureau of Balance, and Taako has a lot of questions for the Director to answer.If only he could remember what they are....





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a continuation of the what-if scenario that began with "The Prize of Our Own Survival", so start reading there if you haven't yet, because otherwise I claim no responsibility for any confusion that may ensue.

Taako is angry.

He's been angry for some time, in fact, beginning back in Wonderland, and the feeling only amplified when the Red Robe had suggested that the Bureau of Balance was hiding something from them. After the revelations in Barry-fucking-Bluejeans's little cave of wonders, he'd realized just _why_ he's angry, and that made it even worse: there's something he's forgotten.

Many things he's forgotten, actually, if Barry is to be believed, but after Red-Robe-lich went into Barry-Bluejeans-body and suddenly didn't remember them and Taako put two and two together with the already-established fact that the Voidfish's forgetting whammy doesn't work on the undead, he knows. There's something very, very important that he's forgotten, he remembered it for that short time after he turned lich, and now it's gone. It's gone, replaced with a growing fury directed at the Director, and he needs answers.

As soon as he'd stepped out of the glass bubble and onto the moon base proper that anger swelled, hot and demanding, until Taako belatedly remembered the _incident_ the night previous and forced himself to breathe, even and slow and calming until he was in control of himself and his emotions. Luckily no one else seemed to notice the brief lapse in the confusion of realizing that one of their trio seemed to be missing, and thus he could move on with the plan. The plan would, if Barry was right, get him all the answers he's looking for, so if he just sticks to that….

Still, it was hard to stay focused as they went to the Fantasy Costco and dealt with _that_ particular discovery, with impatience prodding at him with every breath and frustration growing with every minute that wasn't moving him forward, but now, now that everything has been ironed out and he and Merle are heading toward the main dome at last, Taako is finding that the breathing exercises are becoming less effective. His hands clench and uncurl at his sides in succession as the anger pulses inside him, driving him onward.

"You okay there?" Merle asks, with a note of concern. "We don't have to do this, if you don't want—"

" _No_ ," Taako snaps, without hesitation and with more emphasis than he'd intended. He shakes his head, regaining control over his voice, and adds, "We have to. It's too important."

Merle grunts. "That's what I keep hearing." He isn't convinced, of course; Taako suspects that he wouldn't have been convinced if not for the fact that there's that infuriating bit of static in his brain telling him that he _needs_ to do this, so it's not really surprising.

"You don't have to do it either, old man. You can stay behind, I'll break into the Director's office myself."

"Nope. I said I would, and I'm gonna do it." The dwarf sighs, absently scratching at his wooden arm with his good hand, for whatever reason. "Doesn't mean I'm excited about it or nothin', but I'm going with you. You'd probably get into trouble or something without me."

Normally Taako would probably have made a snide comment about Merle not helping even when he _is_ there, but his heart just isn't in it right now. Not when he has more important things on his mind. He just shrugs a little in response and shoves through the entrance to the main hall, pausing an instant once inside to take stock of the situation. There's the Director, of course, standing by the window to the chamber where the Relics are destroyed, along with Davenport, Angus, and the usual couple guards. Nothing out of the ordinary, so far.

Then the Director looks up and starts to move forward, and Taako can feel himself stiffen, hands closing on nothing until his nails bite into his palms. "Taako, Merle, my God, I’m...I’m so sorry about Magnus," she begins, a crease of what looks like real distress forming between her brows. "I knew there would be some risks sending you into Wonderland but I, I’m so sorry, if I had thought that you couldn’t take it, I wouldn’t have done it. I’m so—"

There she stops, the concern shifting into confusion and some anger as she feels Taako's Detect Thoughts try to reach past her surface thoughts— feels it, and counters it, and the spell crumbles to nothing. "What was that for, Taako?" she asks, voice now stiff and formal. Cold. Cold in contrast to the fire that burns inside of him.

"Just wondering if there's anything _else_ you weren't telling us, _Madam Director_ ," he snaps, folding his arms across his chest to hide the way his hands are trembling. "Anything like, maybe, more details about Wonderland that might have actually _helped_ us, things that would have kept those two _fucking_ liches from destroying Magnus."

She flinches, drawing in a sharp breath, and he counts it as a small victory. "Oh, and by the way," Taako adds, taking a small measure of delight at twisting the knife a little deeper. "Cam said to tell you hello."

"Cam—" Her grip tightens on her staff as she leans on it for support, and one of the guards, frowning now, takes a step forward. The motion seems to be enough to recall her to herself and she straightens again, lifting her free hand. "It's...all right. I'm fine. I—" The Director pauses for a breath, then frowns. "Taako, what happened to your umbrella?"

The umbrella? With everything that's going on, she wants to know about his _umbrella_?

There's something about it that's important, then. Something that he wasn't told.

Taako gives a quiet snort. Okay, yet another thing. But this— something he can't define says that the umbrella, Magnus breaking the umbrella, that's key to...to part of this. Somehow.

"Gone. In Wonderland. Like so many other things...Merle's eye, some of my health, Magnus's _everything_ —" This time it's a not-terribly-gentle shove against his leg that makes Taako stop talking, and he looks down to scowl at Merle. The dwarf just shakes his head in disapproval and mouths something about 'antagonizing her' which, okay, fine. They're supposed to be getting into her office, not getting themselves kicked out of the dome.

"Yes, well, clearly you've...had a truly awful time, so I can understand…" She's back to the calm and collected Director voice, and when Taako looks up again there's no sign of the momentary distress. "Why don't the two of you go wait in my office?" she suggests, with an almost regally dignified gesture toward the door. "I do have some work to take care of, but you can sit and, ah, there are some finger sandwiches, if you need refreshment."

Well. That was easy.

Taako shrugs, shoving his hands deep into his pockets before moving in the direction indicated. "Sure, I guess we can do that. I'm but a simple idiot wizard, wouldn't want to get in your way."

Maybe once he figures everything out he'll understand why the Director winces every time he says that. For now, though, he'll just be glad she does, and go into the office she so helpfully is going to let them just walk right on into. He halfway expects her to change her mind before he gets there, but her attention, along with that of everyone else in the room, turns back to the Relic chamber and stays there until the two of them are gone.

"What the hell were you _doing_ out there?" Merle hisses as soon as the door closes behind them. "You could've pissed her off so bad she threw us out entirely!"

"Ah, but I _didn't_." Taako smirks, a hint of malice seeping in the expression as he remembers the Director's reaction to what he'd said, waggling one finger at the dwarf. " _And_ she sent us exactly where we need to be, my dude, so I'd say it all worked out just perfectly."

"It might not have." But Merle subsides after that last grumble, instead wandering over to inspect the promised plate of sandwiches while Taako pokes around the office, not sure what he's looking for. Detect Magic doesn't tell him anything other than what he already knew (yeah, yeah, the portrait is altered, she used to be younger, whatever), if only he had some kind of guidance—

Wait.

He grabs the Pocket Spa and cracks it open just a little. "Barry…?"

A faint but startled voice echoes from the opening. "Yeah? Yeah, can I get out of here? It’s a little cramped."

"No!" Taako rolls his eyes, impatient. "What’re we looking for?"

"Are you in Lu—the Director's office?" This time it isn't Barry, but that other mannequin, the one that confuses the fuck out of Taako, because why does hearing her talk make him feel so ridiculously _happy_? Makes no fuckin' sense at all.

It makes him hesitate a second too long, and Merle gives Taako an odd look before replying in his stead. "Yeah, we are. What next?"

"Let me out so I can see."

The weird thing is, Taako does it. Immediately, and without hesitation he sets up the Pocket Spa so she can get out as requested (ordered?). Barry asked to be let out and he'd refused, but this mannequin? It doesn't even occur to him to second guess her, and he finds himself blinking in confusion at his own action.

There's a brief mutter of conversation from inside the spa before the mannequin steps out, leaving Barry behind. "Too risky if he's spotted," she explains, as Taako slowly puts the Pocket Spa away again, feeling vaguely dizzy. "As soon as we're sure it's clear you can let him out. Did you try that door?"

And just as she speaks, the coin decides to join in and actually be somewhat helpful, if belatedly. "Once you’ve made it into the Director’s office, you’re gonna need to move past that big heavy door in there to move back into her private sanctum," the recorded voice tells them. "And once you get back there, you will be trespassing, so I guess, well, I guess this is kind of the point of no return."

"Hell yeah. Let's go, then." Taako takes a step toward the door, but pauses when Merle touches his arm.

"You sure about this, bud?" There's a level of seriousness in the dwarf's voice that Taako isn't used to, and really could've lived without, and he heaves a gusty sigh.

"My dude, you can ask me that all you want and the answer isn't going to change." He draws his arm away impatiently and continues on toward the door. "You can stay behind if you want, but Taako's gonna— _OW_ oh _god_ it's so heavy," he finishes, staggering back as the door completely foils his attempt at a dramatic exit and refuses to budge when he kicks it. Shit. _Fuck_ , that really _hurts_ , and now he's got a severely bruised his ego on top of it, too.

Without a word the mannequin steps forward, takes hold of the doorknob, and turns. With a soft click, the clearly unlocked door opens and then swings wide, revealing a long, empty hallway.

Taako clears his throat, tugging his hat down farther on his head as though it can hide the way his cheeks must be flaming scarlet, and starts to walk again. That had better not be a snicker he just heard from Merle, swear to Pan he's going to do something unpleasant if it was…

The coin clicks on and starts talking again as he reaches the doorway and he hesitates to listen, but— none of it makes any sense. He looks out into the hall, the _very empty and featureless_ hall, confused. The bizarrely complicated puzzle the coin is describing is most definitely not what he sees, and that makes him uneasy. Orbs? Pedestals? Nothing here but...hallway.

"Um. You're seeing what I'm seeing, right?" Taako asks, glancing down at Merle. Merle frowns, turns the coin over in his fingers, shakes it a couple of times, then tries tapping it against the wall, but it just keeps going on about puzzle orbs that light up. He looks back up at Taako and shrugs helplessly.

Something still doesn't _quite_ seem right, but Taako shrugs the feeling off as just paranoia. He expects a trap, so if he doesn't find one then of course he's going to be uneasy. Right...? "Well. Uh, the door wasn't locked. So...maybe she just doesn't...expect anyone to try to go back here?"

The words feel wrong even as he says them, but Merle nods, shoves the coin back in his pocket, and starts to walk. So what else can he do but go along?

 _What else indeed_ , Taako thinks bitterly as he sinks into the floor, dragged down to his waist before he can even draw a breath. _Famous last words, but those better not be my last words, Taako isn't going down that easily…_

And of course, just to add some special frosting to the shit situation, he sees a swarm of little scorpions climbing out of the walls and scuttling across the floor toward him as he sinks down, down, despite his struggles, and—

"Taako! Wake up! **_It's not real_**!"

That voice cuts through the panic, drives deep into his mind where he trusts it, trusts it with instincts deeper than thought and—

Taako blinks.

He's lying on the floor of the hallway, untouched, unharmed, staring up at the faceless mannequin in confusion. Illusion. It was just an illusion, but he didn't realize it until the mannequin called to him, and he _listened_.

" _My broooooom!_ " Merle wails, writhing on the floor next to him, hands flailing at nothing. His thoughts now scattered, Taako automatically flinches away, then sighs, and with the assistance of the Band of Telepathic Thought, shouts maybe just a little louder than necessary into his companion's mind. " _It’s a trick, dummy!_ "

" _Damn! Ow! Turn it down a little,_ " Merle snaps silently in response, then freezes in place. Comprehension slowly creeps into his expression, followed by embarrassment, and he hastily pushes himself to a sitting position again. "Uh, I mean. Of...of course it was a trick. Just an illusion. I knew that."

"Of course you did." Is that sarcasm? It might be just a little bit of sarcasm. But only a little, because Taako is a tiny bit embarrassed as well, not to mention highly relieved. He stands up and absently brushes himself off, wondering if he should be thanking the mannequin or something, then frowns, turning his head. "What's...do you hear that noise?"

It's like a clock, or— no, not a clock, but a steady _tink tink tink_ like metal tapping against metal. Somewhere nearby.

As he swivels around, Taako catches sight of movement and notices something that he really, definitely should have noticed before. There's an alarm mounted on the wall, an alarm that was probably set off as soon as they set foot in the hallway, but someone seems to have silenced it. Someone—

Taako swiftly turns back toward the door, and there, to his surprise and unexpected (unwelcome) delight, is Angus McDonald, wand outstretched and expression determined.

"Hell yeah! Nice magic, little man!" Taako crows, lifting a hand to invite a high five, but the boy just shakes his head, tightening his grip on the wand to counter the way his hand is shaking.

"Start talking," he says, his eyes shifting from the two people he knows to the mannequin, and his frown deepens before he looks back at Taako again. "I...I need to know what you know."


	2. Chapter 2

At first Taako thinks having Angus pointing his wand at them is kind of cute, sort of like a kitten showing off its mighty fierce claws. After all, he's been training the kid and knows just how much he's capable of. Right?

Apparently wrong, because he's more than a little startled to feel the (by now) familiar mental shiver of a Zone of Truth settling into place. And even more so to find himself opening his mouth and _talking_. "Okay, kid, this Red Robe has been kind of following us around for a while and after he helped us out in Wonderland, he told us that the Bureau of Balance is hiding something and we need to find out what, and I believe him because I know I've forgotten something really important, and _fuck me_ why am I telling you this?"

By the time he's managed to stop the words spilling from his mouth Merle is just staring at him, wide-eyed and open-mouthed, before he bursts into laughter. "You _failed_? You _failed_ against a Zone of Truth? Oh, that's just amazing, wait until I tell—"

"Magnus?" It doesn't take being the world's greatest detective to figure out what name Merle had been about to say, and Angus pounces on it immediately. "What happened to Magnus, really?"

Taako claps a hand over his mouth to keep himself from answering, looking plaintively at first Merle and then the mannequin for help. The dwarf, however, only offers a giant shit-eating grin and a thumbs up, and the mannequin seems to be trying to pretend to be a big dumb animated object and offers no help at all. "Fine," he mutters, lowering his hand again and reaching into his bag. He fumbles around until he finds the Pocket Spa, then thrusts it toward the mannequin. "Fine, just...fucking _fine_. Here, let Barry out, might as well have the whole merry band together while we play Honesty Hour."

He turns away again without waiting for the last member of their party to show up and lowers himself to one knee to be more on a level with the kid as he begins to speak. "Look, Angus, I trust you implicitly and I'd give you the 100% truth without all the Zone shit, okay?"

Taako lifts his hand, holding up one finger. "One, that guy who was hiding in my bag says the Bureau is hiding something, and we're going to find it. And two," he says, lifting the next finger, "yeah, Magnus...he came out on the bad side of the fight against the liches in Wonderland, but instead of, y'know, _dying_ he sorta got stuck in a wooden body. Like the one back there," he adds, motioning over his shoulder, back toward the other mannequin, "but that's not him."

"So where is he, then?" Angus asks, his attention shifting back toward the others. Taako doesn't turn around, but he can hear Barry mutter something and Merle respond quietly enough he can't understand it, so great, the party's started or something.

"He, uh. We kinda found that...hm." Zone of Truth or no Zone of Truth, this is going to sound weird— shit, even _Taako_ doesn't quite believe it and he saw the fucking body pod in the Fantasy Costco with his own eyes. "It, uh, seems like Garfield's been growing a Magnus body for reasons I sure don't want to think about too hard. After we found it he wanted to try it on for size."

Angus's focus snaps back to Taako, his eyes widening just a fraction before he regains control of his expression again. The hand holding his wand lowers, releasing it to let it dangle from its lanyard. "Taako, thank you. I feel like you all have been keeping me at arm’s length for...a while, but I promise you, I am, I’m good at this. Let me help."

Taako opens his mouth to respond, but Angus shakes his head and keeps going. "I love the Bureau. I love the Director. She’s given me an enormous opportunity here, she gave me a... she gave me a home! And, so I don’t think she’s doing anything wrong, but those spheres that Davenport takes into the relic disposal chamber? Well, they’re not the same spheres that come out."

He shoves a hand into his pocket and then lets it fall open as he draws it out, allowing a piece of chalk to fall to the ground and roll across the floor until it comes to rest at the toe of Taako's boot. "She just did it. She just destroyed the Animus Bell. I made a little mark, discreetly, on the sphere before they took it in and it wasn’t on it when it came out. So I don’t know what’s going on, but, like, obviously you don’t have to be the world’s greatest detective to know that there’s a bait-and-switch going on. But I’m, I feel like we don’t have the complete truth of what’s going on here. So if you say that you can find it, let me help you get there."

"Well, it’s right down this hall," Merle says, moving up to stand beside Taako. "On the other side of that door."

Taako casts a sidelong glance at the dwarf and frowns. "But listen, Angus? You should know something."

"Yeah?"

"If you stick with us, you are…you’re kind of a bad guy, too. This is not specifically, technically, something we’re supposed to be doing." Taako shrugs, as though he doesn't really care, but for some reason...he finds himself caring nonetheless. What the fuck is wrong with him, he's worried about what Angus thinks? _Angus_? Shit, he probably can't even blame this one on the whole lich business, can he?

The look Angus gives him is much more intent than should be coming from a kid his age, much more knowing, and seems to imply he understands what Taako isn't saying as much as what he _is_. Great. The twerp's detectived out feelings. He'd better detective out the fact that it's not a good idea to say anything about it to anyone else.

Fortunately, all he says is, "The ones looking for the truth, well, they’re never the bad guys. I know that from my Caleb Cleveland novels."

And with that he walks on toward the door at the end of the hallway, now seeming as self-assured as usual, leaving Taako to stare after him for a moment before catching himself. He pushes to his feet again, deliberately _not_ looking at any of the others as he follows, pretending to be absorbed in resettling his hat into place. Help is good, no matter where it comes from, right? He'll just...stick with that.

He reaches the door to find Angus studying a pad beside it, with numbered buttons below a display with seven spaces. "The coin?" Taako suggests, looking toward Merle. "Any suggestions?"

Merle digs the coin back out of his pocket and stares at it expectantly, but of course, it's silent when it could be useful. He gives it a shake, which accomplishes exactly nothing, then shrugs. No good.

Taako sighs and turns to the other two, letting his gaze drift past the mannequin and fall on the much less headache-inducing individual. "Barold?" he asks, motioning toward the keypad, but Barry just shakes his head and shrugs helplessly. Right. So glad he came along, he's been _so_ incredibly helpful thus far.

Angus finishes his investigation of the door and slips his magnifying glass back into his pocket with a satisfied nod. "This doesn’t appear to be trapped or anything. Maybe just, I don’t know, Taako, Merle, maybe just try something out, just to calibrate our efforts?"

"I know!" Merle interjects, suddenly excited, and rummages around in his bag briefly before triumphantly brandishing a small gnome-like figurine. "Nitpicker! Go get ‘em, tiger!"

Taako barely refrains from groaning aloud, but does find himself squeezing the bridge of his nose to hold in all the disgust. Because an item that _picks locks_ will do a great job here, won't it, Merle. Senile old dwarf.

While the Nitpicker starts mocking Merle for the obvious idiocy of the plan, Taako just pulls the Hole Thrower out of his own bag, takes aim (unaware of the way the tip of his tongue sticks out as he does), and fires. A rather nicely large hole appears, encompassing the door and a large section of the wall beside it, cutting off the number pad, which clatters to the floor as an appropriately dramatic flourish. "You were saying?" he asks, arching a brow at Merle as the other quickly shoves the Nitpicker away again to shut it up.

"Good work, sir!" Angus says cheerfully, immediately sucking some of the fun out of it, and steps through the hole into the Director's office. Taako gives a light sniff and starts to follow, but pauses uncertainly with one foot in the office and one still out. There's something— something about the room that feels…not quite wrong, not quite unpleasant, but still both and something else at the same time, making him not want to enter. Which, of course, is ridiculous, given the effort he's been going through to get here in the first place.

Behind him the mannequin speaks up, her voice sounding a little odd, a little strained. Like maybe she feels the same thing? Only she's staying a short distance back from the hole, while Barry is watching her with a puzzled expression. "Merle," she says, and points toward the metal circle hovering over the desk. "Merle, please do something about that. Take it down."

It's a holy symbol of some kind, Taako can tell that much, but divine magic isn't really his forte, so it makes sense that Merle should be the one to deal with it. Merle himself, however, seems a bit dubious, frowning as he approaches and examines the symbol with its many-branched tree rotating slowly above the desk. He lifts his Extreme Teen Bible and holds it against his chest, closing his eyes as he mumbles something too quiet to hear, and waits.

Taako, on the other hand, grits his teeth and finishes the step he'd paused midway through, glancing around the rest of the office once properly inside. Weirdly enough, the place reminds him a bit of Barry's cave near Phandalin, with the maps and diagrams tracking the Relics across Faerun. It's a lot neater, of course, and has the benefit of not being a cave, and lacks the creepy-ass body-growing pod, but it looks like both Barry and the Director have been working toward the same ends despite being at odds, which just adds to Taako's grievances against her (plus, this one he can actually remember the reason for).

His attention is drawn back to Merle again, though, when the dwarf gives an annoyed-sounding grunt. "Huh," he mutters, then shrugs and reaches up to take hold of the disc. As soon as his hand touches it the thing stops floating, the metal seeming to grow somehow darker and duller as he lowers it to rest on the desk. More importantly, though, the feeling of discomfort that had been nagging at Taako fades away, and he breathes an unconscious sigh of relief, tension he hadn't realized he'd been carrying fading away from his shoulders.

Now that the disc isn't distracting him he can see a tank in the corner of the room, a tank glowing with a peculiar kind of light that itches at the back of his mind. There's something in there, he's pretty certain, but he can't see it, can't focus on the tank other than to recognize its presence, so of course he approaches it. Taako starts to reach out, then freezes when he hears the sound of the coin in Merle's pocket clicking to life.

"Okay," the lich's recorded voice begins, only slightly muffled by fabric, "Now you should’ve had enough time by now to get in there and drink. So you should be remembering now, but it may take you a while. But the short version: we’re all ░░░░░ and ░░░░░ was one of us, but ░░░░░ now if we can reach ░░░░░ we should be able to ░░░░░ before ░░░░░."

At each burst of static the light in the tank flares brighter, and a bell suspended over it chimes loudly. "Fuck! Merle, make it shut up!" Taako exclaims, fumbling for his wand.

"It doesn't have a mute button!" Merle frantically digs the thing out of his pocket and tries closing his hands around it to suppress the sound, but it just keeps going, setting off another two alarms from the bell before Taako manages to cast Silence on it. He's entirely aware that it's a bit late now, of course, since whoever was going to be alerted almost definitely already is, but at least they can finish in here without being half deafened by the sound.

"Well," Taako observes grimly, grabbing a flask and shaking it a little to make sure it's empty. "I sure hope this is what we're looking for, 'cause I think we're out of time."

The top of the tank is helpfully open, so he dips the flask in the water and takes a drink before he can think too long about it. Almost immediately the muscles of his neck and shoulders feel tense, his skin crawling like he can feel something creeping up on him — a headache or an impending disaster, maybe both at the same time — and he shakes his head a little as he hands the flask off to Merle.

Barry steps up to the tank with a flask of his own and Taako moves out of the way, but something is wrong with his balance and he has to grab the edge of the desk to keep from falling— it's like he was going down a flight of stairs and missed one step, but he's on completely level floor here so it shouldn't be disorienting like it is. He hears Merle say something and Angus answer, but it's hard to listen, hard to focus, and his ears are ringing like the Silence spell has evaporated and the alarm is clanging away inside of his head.

He shakes his head again, sharper this time, but it doesn't help, it only sets the room to swinging crazily about him. Lights flare in the tank, sparkling in a dizzying array of colors, and he can focus on the Voidfish, the much smaller Voidfish, lifting a tendril to touch the glass in response to Angus's tapping. _Magnus should give it a duck_ , he thinks for no apparent reason, and his knees give way, no longer able to support his weight.

Wooden arms close around him before he can collapse, holding him steady, comforting, and Taako finds himself relaxing into the embrace. There are footsteps approaching in the hall, echoing louder than they probably should be, and Barry is desperately warning against trying to remember too fast, but he isn't listening. He doesn't need to listen, not when Lup is here and he's finally safe at last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I did roll saves against Angus's Zone of Truth here, and Taako? He got a 2.
> 
> (Lup got a natural 20.)


	3. Chapter 3

The flood of over a century of lost memories is crashing down on him again, but this time Taako doesn't feel himself dissolving under the weight, losing his grip on his very self as he had back in Wonderland. In fact, he's possibly never felt quite so solid, with Lup's (okay, substitute) arms around him and her reality settling back into his heart where it belongs. For so very long he'd thought himself entirely alone, but he was so wrong; even when he hadn't realized she existed he'd still found her and had her at his side, watching over him and protecting him while she was trapped in that umbrella.

Even when the disorientation begins to fade he keeps his eyes closed, clinging to the mannequin holding his sister. He can hear the voices of some very confused guards, responding to the alarm bell only to find two of the Reclaimers, a Seeker, and a complete stranger. They're clearly not quite sure how to proceed, and settle for just escorting everyone to the Director and letting her deal with it.

"Taako." Barry's hand on his shoulder is gentle, his voice soft with sympathy but still firm. "Come on. We have to go."

Taako opens one eye a little, cautious in case the dizziness returns, but to his relief the room is finally holding still. The guards are looking at him uncertainly— he knows them all quite well by now, and they most definitely know him. Must be really awkward when you have to arrest your co-workers, or...whatever they're doing. Caught them trespassing, at the very least, back in the boss's office.

The _boss_. The _director_. Taako's lip curls a little as the earlier anger seeps back in, reinforced now with the awareness of just _why_ he was so furious with Lucretia. Okay. She wants to talk?

Let's talk.

He straightens, keeping one arm draped over the mannequin's shoulder as he makes a show of being too weak to support himself. "Of course, of course," he says in a dramatically weak voice, graciously gesturing toward the door with his now-free hand to grant the guards permission to do their jobs. "By all means, let's go."

Honestly, of everyone who drank the baby Voidfish's filth juice, Merle's the one who really looks like he needs some support— Angus is coping, probably because he'd lost almost nothing, and Barry seems to have more or less recovered by now. Maybe it's the whole dying-and-lich-ifying thing at work? It had certainly hit Taako much, _much_ harder the first time he'd remembered, enough that he shudders away from even approaching those memories, and now he feels...well, not great, maybe, but okay. Tolerable. Better, now that he has his twin with him once more.

As they make their way back down the hallway he keeps hold of Lup's borrowed wooden body— it's the wrong height, the wrong shape, but solid, and the sense of her presence makes up for the things that are out of place. She seems entirely willing to keep up the contact in turn, her own arm around his waist as though supporting him, their hands clasped tightly.

"So...you're dating the Grim Reaper?" Lup whispers beneath the sounds of the footsteps around them, and his back involuntarily stiffens a little. He'd been trying not to think about Kravitz, and it hadn't been too difficult for the last little while, what with all the other shit falling to pieces around him, but now that little knot of cold tension curls around his heart once more.

"I guess." Taako catches his lower lip in his teeth, worrying at it briefly. "I mean. I was. I'm...not sure he'll be too happy with me, not after…."

Her hand squeezes his lightly. "I think— Taako, I have to tell you, I think he might be a little occupied right now."

"What?" Sudden alarm lances through him, making him forget to keep his voice down, but he ignores the puzzled looks from the guards and just stares at the featureless mask that hides his sister from him. Had he gone pale? He must have, his face feels so cold.

"Sssh, Taako, breathe. _Breathe_." Lup leans in a little bit closer, lowering her voice until he has to pay close attention to hear anything. "When Magnus got booted out of his body, I went after him and—"

"You did that?"

" _Focus_."

"...sorry."

"Me and Barry, but _more importantly_ , I grabbed him right before he was sucked into the Astral Plane and...Taako, the Hunger was already there."

His breath catches in his throat, and for a moment he actually does need Lup's support to stay upright. The Hunger. _Fuck_ , it's Midsummer, isn't it, the eyes last year, the spies he'd kept seeing in the Ethereal Plane for months, and if it's already closed in on the other planes, and Kravitz—

When his mind and eyes clear again Lup is humming softly, an old song, a song he half-remembers from childhood, a song that in her voice seems to pull the edges of _Taako_ together into one cohesive whole, and he shudders. "...sorry," he says again, though apologizing for a different reason this time, for a number of reasons, and she stops humming to sigh.

"We're going to have to have a really long talk later, you know," she says, shaking her head slightly.

"I know."

"We're _both_ lucky Barry figured it out so quickly and got Magnus to break the umbrella."

Taako looks at her sharply, surprised. "Is that why—"

"Sssh. Later."

They're just emerging from the Director's office (outer office?) into the main hall when Lup shushes him, and a moment later Barry pushes past the twins and the startled guards, charging directly toward the Director's dais. Davenport intercepts him halfway there, and Taako has to shake off another wash of dizziness as two versions of the gnome clash inside his memories, the proud captain of the Starblazer and the Director's ward, and again it infuriates him, what Lucretia has done to her friends, her _family_.

By the time he recovers the guards have dragged Barry back to rejoin the rest, not so hesitant nor careful with the stranger as they were with the other Bureau members, and Davenport— Davenport has returned to the dais, where Lucretia has surrounded herself with a semi-opaque shield (wise of her, Taako thinks grimly to himself). It's still transparent enough that he can see she has one of those Relic orbs with her, one that, he realizes after a second, has a small chalk mark on its side. The Animus Bell must be inside, then, and — he squints briefly, focusing, and realizes she's channeling energy from the orb into her staff.

Her staff. Her _fucking_ staff, the Bulwark Staff, the last Relic that she'd had with her the _entire_ fucking time she was sending the three of them off on missions like the braindead little minions they'd been. He bitterly recalls their first "briefing" with her, when she'd explained the Reclaimer's duties and he'd treated the quest like it was a fucking joke. _"Was the seventh object love the whole time?"_ he recalls himself saying, his mouth twisting bitterly. No, the seventh object was betrayal. Betrayal, pride, lies, manipulation, all at the hands of someone he'd once cared for dearly.

At his side Merle suddenly grabs his head with a pained groan, his eyes closing and a decidedly green cast washing across his skin, and Lucretia finally looks up from what she's doing. "Oh my god," she breathes, half-rising from her crouch. "Did you— did you inoculate yourselves?"

"Yes, _Lucretia_. We did." The voice doesn't even sound like his own, even though Taako can feel himself speaking, the words harsh and cold enough that he can feel Lup's arm tighten around his waist— whether it's in warning or support he neither knows nor cares. His hand twitches, wanting to free itself from his sister's hold and go for his wand, but maybe she guesses what he's thinking, and she refuses to let go. His glare will have to suffice for now, and Lucretia certainly does seem to flinch back, even hidden safe as she is behind that shield wall.

Merle groans again, dropping to one knee, and Lucretia tears her gaze away from Taako and toward the dwarf, concern written large on her face. "It’s going to be too much, you’re going to remember too much, it’s too specific, you’ll be killed, why— why did you do that?"

"Because _it had to be done_!" Taako snaps, memories flickering past in a dizzying rush— the Starblaster, the crew, the years they spent together, working, learning, fighting, dying— the Relics, the wars, the joy fading from his found family's faces— Lup's disappearance, the note with two lonely words to go on, searching and searching but always in vain— the traveling show, so many people, so many crowds, so much death, fleeing from Glamour Springs, years of hiding and self-hatred— finding Merle and Magnus again, against all odds, finding two people who felt oddly like home, wanting but not daring to get too close— Wave Echo Cave, the red-robed corpse of his sister _who he didn't even recognize_ —

Before he realizes it he's shaking, tremors washing over him, dimly recognizing danger as sparks dance across his body, a pulse of energy arcing to leave a charred spot on the floor in front of him. And then Lup is clinging to him, holding him so tight he can hardly breathe, her voice in his ear steady and even and calm until he exhales, long and slow and tired, letting his eyes fall closed.

"Taako…" It's Lucretia's voice, stunned and shaken. "Taako, what did— what happened? Why?"

She'd recognize it, if anyone would, she'd know the signs of a lich losing control after years spent on the ship with Lup and Barry, but not Taako. Never Taako, he'd always clung to his life, not daring to risk it, not like his sister, always the bravest of the two of them. Not until years of loneliness had left him without enough reason to care about anything but the suggestion he might protect his two companions, might be able to gain power enough to set them free of the torture chamber of Wonderland.

He really _is_ an idiot, isn't he.

Taako just shakes his head and sags, letting his forehead rest against the mannequin's shoulder, feeling the soft fabric brush against his skin and the too-solid wood beneath. How he wishes she were real, warm and soft to match her voice and presence rather than clashing with them, but he'll take whatever he can get. He'll take _anything_ after a decade without her, without half of himself.

He can hear Barry clear his throat, the sound of rustling fabric as he gestures. "Lucretia, you gotta help them remember. It’s over. You owe them that. You already have the relics, just help them remember. Their— their minds are going to shatter if you don’t."

"It doesn't matter," Taako mumbles into Lup's shoulder, head rocking side to side slightly as though he can block out Lucretia's voice as she starts to speak. "It doesn't matter, we just need to find the ship. If we find the ship, we can get out of here, try again."

"No, Taako." Lup's voice is firm enough that he looks up again, blinking. "We're not going to abandon this world. Not after what we did to it, we just can't."

"Lulu—"

"Mm-mmn."

The familiar exchange is enough to make him smile just the tiniest bit, to give his heart a small lift of hope. Once more...it's enough. He nods, slowly, and she draws back just enough to let him stand on his own, keeping their hands locked together.

Lucretia's words fade back into comprehensibility as he allows his focus to expand past just the two of them, and he turns slightly to look at her again "With the light of creation reformed," she's explaining, sounding earnest, "I can build a barrier to keep the Hunger at bay. I can build a home that all of us can be safe in, together. Save for Lup. I'm so sorry, Taako, Barry, there was nothing I could do."

And then Lup laughs, the sound loud and bright but shading toward sharp as the mannequin also turns toward Lucretia's dais. "Don't worry about it, I found my way here eventually."  If she'd been herself, not confined to the featureless body, Taako knows exactly the smile that would be on her face to match _that_ tone of voice, proud and smug and a little barbed, to show she isn't _entirely_ pleased with the situation. "But do, please, go on."

(As Lup speaks Taako can see Barry staring at her with the kind of soppy adoring smile that tells him that some things are exactly as they used to and should be, both to his disgust and relief.)

Lucretia, for her part, can only stare for several long moments, until she's startled by the sound of a crash— Davenport's tray has fallen to the ground, sending its contents scattering down the stairs to the dais. And the gnome himself is holding Barry's flask in one hand, while the other shakily lifts to wipe ichor from his mouth.

"Lucretia," he begins, voice rusty and trembling at first but regaining some of its power by the time he finishes speaking, "what have you done…?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taako will figure out how to stop fizzing like that eventually, he's just under a lot of stress right now. There are better times to be a newly-made lich, I guess.


	4. Chapter 4

The heavy silence that had descended after Davenport spoke is swiftly broken when the door to the outside bursts open, admitting Carey, Killian, No.3113— and Magnus. A Magnus who looks as he did before Wonderland, before the lost years, and Taako pretends he doesn't feel a surge of relief at the sight.

The others in the dome aren't quite so hesitant about their reactions, though: the guards exclaim and mutter amongst themselves, looking stunned but delighted, while Angus breathes a sigh of what sounds like relief. (What, did he think Taako had lied about the whole thing, even with the whole Zone and uncomfortable truth shit? Rude.) Lucretia gasps, one hand flying to her mouth as she stares at the fighter, her eyes glistening with tears.

Barry, though, just holds out his hand. "Taako, your flask."

Taako blinks, then nods in realization and hands it over, and Barry hurries over to Magnus, all but shoving the thing into the fighter's mouth with little preamble. The urgency makes perfect sense, given that outside the dome things are...not going well. _Taako_ can see the Hunger's shadowy minions, but the members of the Bureau he can see fleeing across the quad obviously...can't. Things are clearly going from shit to fucked out there, and if it's this bad up here— what about down below? People down there don't even know about the _Relics_ , much less the Hunger and what it can do, and if they can't _see_ what's attacking them, how can they ever hope to fight it? The end of their world is descending and they can't even _comprehend_ it.

Luckily for Lup her hands are currently wood and quite sturdy, because he realizes his hand is squeezing so tight that he'd likely be leaving bruises on flesh. "It's okay," she murmurs, when she sees him looking down and making an effort to relax, if only to keep his own hand from cramping. "We can do it. We're all together again, now. _Nothing_ can stop us."

The words are brave, and she sounds just as self-assured as always, but Taako can't help but flinch when part of the darkness overhead sags, then drops as a pillar of opalescent black to slam into the ground below. This was always the part where they would be running away, running for the safety of the Starblaster, and just standing here, planning to somehow _fight_ the nightmare that's been chasing them for so very long, is...well, it's fucking _terrifying_.

He tears his gaze away from the exterior with some difficulty and turns back to look at those inside of the dome. Lucretia still seems stunned, looking between the clearly-alive Magnus and the not-so-clearly Lup mannequin, one hand resting on her staff as though ready to return to work but still caught up in the confusion of this moment. Merle's standing up now, shaking his head a bit but steady; Davenport and Magnus look to still be recovering from the lightning bolt to the memory, with Barry trying valiantly to support the latter despite the difference in their respective sizes. (Taako can sympathize— trying to hold Magnus up is like trying to support a fucking _building_.) Carey and Killian are patching up wounds, from what he can see, and they have Taako's flask with them so presumably they've dosed up by now.

And Angus—

Wait, he was _just_ _here_ and—

Oh. Taako _definitely_ doesn't feel relieved to see that the kid has run over to help No.3113 and the guards set up a barricade at the entrance. Maybe he's a tiny bit proud, though, because the kid appears to be using Levitate, and when did he manage to learn _that_? Must've been studying behind his teacher's back, that double-crossing brat.

Okay, then.

Taako draws in a deep breath and holds it briefly, then before Lup can stop him, he releases his sister's hand, draws his wand, and levels it at Lucretia. " _Ten_."

Lucretia flinches, her attention moving back to Taako, her mouth opening as though to speak, but he doesn't wait.

" _Nine._ "

"Taako, stop it." Lup reaches out toward him, but he just shakes his head, not looking away from the woman on the dais.

" _Eight_."

Lucretia's hand closes around her staff, but she doesn't lift it yet. "Taako, I know you're upset, but please, listen—"

Metal rasps close by, and suddenly Magnus is standing beside him, holding the ridiculously oversized sword (that he's _borrowed_ only _temporarily_ ) in a hand that only shakes a little, pointing it at Lucretia as well. The unexpected show of support is oddly gratifying, and helps him pretend that he can't all but feel Lup's disapproval radiating off of her.

" _Seven._ "

"What the hell are you doing?" Merle demands from off to one side, his voice still trembling a bit. Or _is_ it just because of the lingering effects of the Voidfish whammy? No. No, no distractions. Only the anger, the betrayal, the fear for what might happen if Lucretia's plan continues to unfold.

"Taako. _Stop_."

This time her tone allows for no argument, and Lup steps in front of him to back it up. One wooden hand lifts to the end of his wand, exerting gentle pressure to get him to lower it again, and only then does Taako realize that he's trembling.

"She fucking took _everything_ from me," he snaps, voice wavering just a little but loud enough for everyone to hear, even as he gives way to Lup. It's not as though he can fight _her_ , not his own _sister_ , he never could. Never can. "She took _you_ from me, I didn't even…" Taako stops, swallowing hard before his voice can crack completely. "How can— how can I just fucking… _wave that off_ and pretend everything is just, just peachy?"

Lup shakes her head slowly. "You don't. It isn't. But Taako— Taako, this isn't right. Not like this. Not right now."

"I know that things went wrong." The currently unwelcome voice rings out across the room, and is that a note of relief in Lucretia's voice? Or regret? Neither one does anything to appease Taako, and he clenches his jaw even as he allows his hand to lower to his side. "I know I shouldn’t have kept you all in the dark for as long as I did. I swear, I had no idea how arduous a task this was going to be, I know I have a lot for atone for. But please, just— I’m begging you let me finish this and then we can talk about it."

"What are you finishing?" This time Taako glances over at Merle when he speaks, concern sparking despite himself at the note in the dwarf's voice. It isn't as though they don't have a massive buffet of shit to pick from to be worried about, but he hasn't heard Merle sound like that in...years.

Lucretia either doesn't notice or doesn't care, though. "I’m going to cast my barrier around this world and stop the Hunger once and for all."

"Lucretia, you need to not do that, okay?" Now Lup turns to face the woman, her voice just as firm as it had been when she'd refused to let her brother attack one of their family. "If you put that thing up, it's going to be the end of the world."

And then Barry steps up to stand beside the mannequin, leaning forward just slightly as he speaks as though it will add emphasis to the urgency of his words. "We already had this discussion, remember? The barrier's not going to work, it's going to sever every bond this world’s ever had. Please, I— I know why you did what you did, but...you can’t do this."

"Lup—" Lucretia hesitates, a multitude of emotions warring in her expression before stubborn determination wins out. "I— I'm so sorry, I swear, I looked for so long, and— I'm so happy to see you're back. But I can't...nothing you can say will make me change my mind. We made a promise, all of us, that we wouldn't put a world in danger just to thwart the Hunger, and— and that's exactly what we _did_. I have to do this. I have to— I'm going to save us all, I promise!"

Before anyone can react, can even really process what she'd said, Lucretia's protective shield bubble turns white, and with a flash of light she disappears.

"Well...fuck," Taako says into the silence.

Davenport slowly rises to his feet again, brushing dust off his trousers and tugging his jacket into place with an absent gesture. "All right, we— we need to find the ship. Wherever Lucretia has hidden it, we need to find it and get out of here before it's too late. Clearly, the original plan didn't work, so we leave here and we try again."

"We can't leave, Captain. Not after what we already did to this world." Lup reaches out and takes Barry's hand with one of hers, then holds the other toward Taako. When he doesn't immediately step up to take it, she shakes it impatiently and makes a grabbing gesture; with a sigh he moves to her side and twines his fingers with hers. It's their show of unity, he guesses. Wonderful. Three jackasses standing in a line.

"Yeah," Merle agrees, looking briefly startled that he isn't the only one who feels that way. "We can't run away this time! I mean, I got _kids_ , and— we got all these people relying on us."

"Sirs, please…" At the small voice Taako looks over toward Angus, who's finished with the barrier at the entrance and is approaching the group again, twisting his cap between his hands with the most obvious show of distress the boy has probably ever shown in front of them. "Don't go. Don't leave us to this, please…"

"We're not going to." Everyone is suddenly looking at him with varying degrees of surprise, and Taako blinks. Was that...his out-loud voice?

 _Shit_.

Well. In for a penny…

Pretending that he'd _meant_ to say that the whole time, Taako shrugs, squeezing Lup's hand lightly to give himself a reminder of strength. "Sorry, Cap, but my baby sister is right. We fucked up this world with what we did," _and Lucretia made it even worse_ , he adds silently before continuing, "and we need to do something about that. _Not_ that barrier of Lucretia's, the nerd squad here says that'll just make things worse and I believe them. But there's gotta be something we can do."

Another choice. Another option. Why does that sound familiar, why does he think that—

His thoughts scatter, the moment broken as Killian clears her throat quietly. "Uh, if we're...maybe done arguing for a minute here, um. Hey, Merle? Uh, I could really— I could use a heal over here, bud, if you can break me one off."

Merle just laughs, that note of hysteria back in his voice again. "Yeah, that would be _awesome_ , wouldn’t it? Wouldn’t that be _great_ if I could do a heal! Sorry, kiddo, I’ve been cut off from the source! Pan ain’t answering my calls!"

Killian and Carey exchange a look, and Carey carefully shifts away from the orc's arm and stands up again. "Okay. Can everyone maybe just explain what the _fuck_ is going on so we know how to—"

As she speaks something alerts Taako, maybe a faint sound, a hint of movement in the corner of his eye, some sense that's been attuned to the Hunger over a century of evading it. _Something_. Without thought he grabs Angus and throws both of them to the side as, with a vast, deafening roar, one of the pillars of pure darkness crashes into the top of the dome, sending razor-sharp shards of glass flying everywhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, everyone who's left me comments? I love you all dearly and your comments are seriously giving me drive to finish this, even if I feel too awkward to actually...reply... 
> 
> Seriously, come bug me at my [tumblr](http://ramavoite.tumblr.com) if you want to talk, and thank you to everyone who's read and smacked that kudos button or commented or whatever, because I'm constantly amazed that people are still reading this.


	5. Chapter 5

"Sir? Sir, are you all right?"

Taako grimaces and shakes his head a little, an action that sends little fragments of glass sliding off his hat to land on the floor beside him, and runs a quick self-check. He'd moved quickly enough to avoid getting hit by any of the really large shards, but thinks he maybe got a few small cuts here and there, and he's fairly certain this outfit isn't going to be wearable again, but that's a fact that he'll worry about if he actually manages to _survive_ the rest of the day, since that remains to be seen. And since he'd been shielding Angus the kid doesn't have any visible injuries, so, great. Magnus is _definitely_ wearing off on him, which pisses him off a little given that, hello, he's the wizard, not the tank, he can't take these kinds of hits.

Whatever. He (gently) shoves Angus away from himself with a disdainful grimace. "Fine, of course, takes a bit more than some glass to take down Taako, you know?"

Something like, maybe, the giant black column now planted in the center of the hall, its surface pulsating with flickers of color. That's never good, and it means things are about to get worse real fucking soon now.

He pushes to his feet again, more bits of glass plinking on the floor as they fall from his clothing. Everyone else seems mostly okay, from a quick glance around— Merle is trying to hold his warhammer and bind up a gash on his arm at the same time, and Lup's wooden body has several large chunks of glass sticking out of it in a disturbingly grotesque fashion, though she's waving Barry off from trying to do anything about that. "You'd just cut yourself, babe," he can hear her say, sounding oddly cheerful for the situation. "There are more important things to be worrying about."

And as though it had only been waiting for that cue, the inky column disgorges five shapes: a four-armed skeletal figure, a centaur, something that looks peculiarly like a floating _hand_ , a humanoid figure with a really weird-shaped head that _almost_ makes Taako want to know what it had once looked like before turning into the same substance as the rest of the Hunger, and a really fuckin' huge rhinoceros.

Even as Taako draws his wand he hears Magnus bellow, " _Dibs!_ " and charge toward the rhinoceros, which, of course he does. Being several degrees less suicidally inclined than his burly companion, Taako stays right where he is and just turns toward the...hand... _thing_ , and suddenly realizes that Angus is standing next to him, his own wand at the ready. He blinks down at the kid, who just offers a tiny smile up at him and nods gravely.

Well...fine. This _is_ Angus's world, after all, so it's on him to help defend it. And Taako isn't even the tiniest bit proud of the kid, and anyone who says otherwise is going to get a Magic Missile up their ass.

"Hey!" he calls, twirling his wand between his fingers with a _completely necessary_ flourish before pointing it at his target. "Gimme five!"

The hand-shaped bit of darkness is suddenly wreathed in flame, twitching and writhing in a silent show of pain before it twists about and lunges toward him. Taako nimbly dances back out of its grasp, feeling a surge of almost malicious glee. Those fucking Wonderland liches might have taken some of his agility, but clearly, _clearly_ he's still more than capable enough. _Hah_.

Of course, then Angus just has to go and throw a fuckin' _Lightning Bolt_ , and he's clearly going to have to go find whoever's been teaching his magic boy and end them, because how dare. The casting _does_ go a little awry and manages to ignite the piled-up barricade at the door, but still, fuckin' Lightning Bolt, _damn_.

Taako shakes his head and reaches for his next spell, but hesitates briefly as he catches sight of movement nearby and realizes that's Magnus. Magnus, _on the back of the fucking rhinoceros_ , charging about the room and somehow managing not to knock over any of the other combatants in the process. _What the_ **_fuck_** _, Magnus_.

He turns back to his own fight again, considering how close his opponent is to the humanoid-ish thingey with swords that Merle is threatening with his warhammer, makes a quick mental calculation, then flicks his wand. "Hey, hand! _Down low!_ "

A wall of searing flame springs into being, engulfing both the hand and the swordsman, and Taako gives a triumphant cackle that drowns out Merle's curse as he's forced to abort his own attack and jump away. "Hah! Too slow!"

When the hand tries to retaliate again he once more dodges— Angus, however, is not quite so fast. Angus, who might have been learning magic with prodigious speed, has clearly not also been working on his physical training, and the flame-wreathed hand slams into him, sending him flying until he crashes to the floor near the barricade.

For an instant Taako thinks that the angry scream in his ears is his own, but no, his throat is too tight to allow sound to emerge at the moment. Lup. It's _Lup_ , he knows that voice better than his own, but he can't see her in the chaos and panic flares, what happened, where is she, and then—

 _Fire_.

The entire dome is wreathed in it, flames roiling out and up and yet avoiding him completely, making his instinctive reaction to shield himself entirely unnecessary. Jets of color blast through the conflagration, a multitude of fireworks shooting off and bursting, mingling until everything is every color and none, white-hot and so bright Taako has to shield his eyes.

—and then in an instant it's gone, having consumed the dark figures and the pillar of shadowstuff from which they'd emerged; Taako finds his sister hovering in her lich form overhead, now freed of the mannequin body, furious and brilliant, her spectral form still wreathed in flame. On the ground below Barry is clutching at his arm, blood seeping from between his fingers, and for one desperate instant Taako is caught between two people he wants to run toward, leaving him half-frozen with indecision, his heart in his throat.

Luckily Merle lurches into a run toward Barry, and he's the closest thing to a medical expert they've got (gods help them all), so with the decision made for him Taako hurries over toward where Angus is lying entirely too fucking close to that burning pile of furniture blocking the door, his clothes still smoldering a little from the hand's fire.

His boots slide against the shards of glass still littering the floor as he runs and he ends up dropping a little more heavily than intended to one knee, reaching an uncertain hand toward the kid's face. "Yo, Angus," he says, feeling peculiarly breathless. "C'mon, kid, it's not over yet, this isn't the time to be napping."

But an instant later he hastily draws back again as Angus stirs, his nose wrinkling before he cautiously cracks his eyes open to squint up at Taako. "Sir? What—" He blinks, his hand grasping at empty air as he tries to sit up. "Where'd it go?"

"You missed the whole thing." Taako purses his lips and shakes his head in disapproval. "You know, spells aren't the _only_ thing you should be learning. Clearly you need some lessons in _dodging_ , unless you're planning to start training with Magnus and doing the whole 'oh look here I am please hit me because I like it' thing."

"Oh _no_ sir, I love magic! I wouldn't give it up!" Angus's eyes grow wide, but he's sitting up and looks maybe a little bruised but otherwise all right, no gushing blood anywhere to be seen, and he's certainly able to talk coherently. Check.

Taako breathes an inward sigh of definitely _not_ relief, and offers a hand to help him up. "Hmph. If you say so," he replies, eyes narrowed a little as he watches Angus stand and remain standing, only wobbly for a second or two before figuring out his balance. "Come on, this isn't over yet."

And with that he turns away, making note of the footsteps following him as he heads over to join the small crowd close to the center of the room.

"It's not that bad, really, I'm fine," Barry is insisting to the people hovering (most figuratively, Lup literally) close to him as Taako approaches. Merle is just tying off an improvised bandage on his arm, a scowl creasing his weathered forehead, but he doesn't contradict the statement.

"You've gotta be more _careful_ — you just barely got that body back, you know." Worry and relief both are obvious in Lup's voice, even if her expression is pretty much impossible to read while she's all lich. "And we still kinda need to stop the world from ending, if you hadn't forgotten."

Davenport clears his throat, glancing around the group with a serious expression. "We do indeed. And— well, I'm still your captain, despite...everything. And I— I'm going to get us out of this."

Taako glances around at the other members of the Bureau, the ones who _weren't_ members of the crew and only knew Davenport as what Lucretia had made him, and is intensely relieved to find no doubt, no hesitation to be seen. Cap'n'port always did have a way about him that made him easy to trust, encouraging you to believe in him and whatever he said he could do, and it's more than a little reassuring to see that quality intact once more.

"No.3113, Carey, Killian." He glances toward the trio of Regulators, and Killian twitches slightly, as though about to salute in response to his intense look. "The three of you are in charge of securing this base— if we lose this, we lose everything. Can you do that?"

No.3113 gives a soft bleep, Carey grins toothily, and Killian glances at the others before nodding firmly. "Leave it to us."

Davenport nods, then moves on. "Angus, you're with me. We're going to find where Lucretia is hiding out. Maybe— maybe I can still talk her out of this."

Magnus starts to speak, but the gnome only holds up one hand and shakes his head. "Lup and Barry. We need to find the Starblaster, wherever it's been hidden. If we have the ship, we'll at least have _some_ options."

Barry levers himself to his feet with a quiet grunt of effort while Lup hovers nearby, her hands slightly outstretched, wanting to help him out but knowing that she'd just pass right through him if she tried. He gingerly moves his arm, opening and closing his hand to test how well he can still use it, then nods. "You got it."

Another nod, and Davenport turns toward the last group. "Magnus. Taako. Merle. Come with me for a minute."

Without waiting he turns away, heading toward the door back to Lucretia's office with all confidence that they'll follow. Which they do, of course, though Taako lags a little and looks back toward the others as he goes. Lup and Barry have paused to say something to Agnus on their way out, and the kid looks uncharacteristically speechless as he stares up at them, eyes wide as though awestruck. _Yeah, he'd_ **_better_ ** _be impressed_ , Taako thinks with a smirk as he turns back to keep walking. _That's my sister there, of course she's fucking awesome._

**********

When the three of them emerge from the ruins of the main dome, they find Lup and Barry still waiting, watching the pillars of the Hunger stabbing down toward the land below with a grim air. Barry glances over at their approach and nods. "Hey. I remembered something. We're going to need every advantage we've got."

And with that he draws a line through the air with his wand, a line that swiftly multiplies and expands to form a cube, then solidifies into a chest that lands on the ground with a muted thump. "I hid these away for safekeeping," Barry explains, nudging the lid open with one foot, revealing equipment that Taako hadn't thought of in years, equipment that he'd thought lost or hidden away wherever the Starblaster is. He pounces on his glaive with delight, shoving the shitty excuse for a wand that he'd been using back into his bag where it belongs. _Finally_.

Of course now is not the time for distractions, and his excitement is rather swiftly derailed by Barry's muttered, "Oh my god... _court's in session_."

Taako looks up sharply to see him pointing with his good arm, out into the distance, and for an instant it feels as though his heart has stopped, as though he's once again been turned to stone. Four silhouettes of black opal are stepping into the open, shapes of the four statue-like judges he recalls _entirely_ too well, massive and threatening and _heading their direction_.

"Oh. Shit," Magnus says, in a statement that Taako feels sums up everyone's feelings rather succinctly.

Everyone, he realizes half a second later, except Lup, who's over at the edge of the base, looking down at the world below. With a small frown Taako moves over to join her, following her gaze to see a black circle of glass. The _last_ black circle of glass, for that would be the ruin of what was once Phandalin.

Lup turns toward him and, with an oddly pleased smile audible in her voice, says, "I've got a cunning plan. Taako, Barry, I think I know how we can get some reinforcements and turn this around. Do you trust me?"

"Of course," Taako replies instantly, a little offended that she'd even _ask_ the question, and hears Barry echoing the same words only a fraction of a second behind him.

Lup nods, then looks toward the others. "Magnus, Merle, you keep going. Barry, Taako, come with me." Without waiting for a response, she drifts back and allows herself to fall, plunging down toward the land far below.

Barry meets Taako's eyes and shrugs helplessly. "Well. You heard the lady," he says, and without hesitation leaps over the side after her, catching himself mid-fall with a spell that slows his descent.

Taako starts to follow, then hesitates and looks back at the other two. "Well, uh, I'm honestly not sure what's fuckin' going on here, but...I guess we have a plan. So. Uh, Magnus, hit stuff, and Merle...don't beef it."

At Merle's answering snort, Taako grins. "And if I see Pan, I'll tell him to hit you up."

"Shit, yeah," Merle says, with a sound somewhere between another snort and a laugh. "You’ll probably see him before I do. You are jumping off the side of, uh, the base."

"No, it's fine." Taako gives the pair a bright smile, ever so casually taking a step back toward the edge. "I've got _magic powers_."

One little hop back and he's falling off the side of the base, laughing madly despite himself at the insanity of it all. With one hand he clings to his hat to keep it from flying away as he tumbles through the air toward Phandalin below, almost reluctantly catching himself with a Feather Fall as he goes. Sure, the world is ending, the Starblaster is missing, and they're all likely completely fucked. But still...he can't help thinking about Lup's words: " _We're all together again, now._ **_Nothing_ ** _can stop us._ "

Nothing at all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yeah I'm over on tumblr [here](http://ramavoite.tumblr.com) if you want to talk or something. 
> 
> I have at least one more story in this series planned, maybe more, we'll see how it goes. Thanks for reading!


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